The Secrets of Happiness
by SingerOfHeartSongs
Summary: You see, I don't enjoy infecting anyone's happiness." I just have to learn that I have to be happy, too. AH AU Canon pairings My first public fanfic! PLEASE PLEASE READ!
1. Chapter 1

Forks. Location: Washington. Near Seattle or Port Angeles. Iím moving there. Moving in with Cha--my dad. From Phoenix, which has been my home with my mother for years. Iíve only really gone to Charlieís during the summer.  
You see, I donít enjoy infecting anyoneís happiness. Especially not Renée and Philís happiness. And I could tell that, no matter how much she smiled and pretended, there was sadness in her eyes from being forced to stayed with me. My solution, you see, is perfect for her. Oh, Iím sure sheíll miss me, but she needs to stay with Phil and be happier than she ever would be with me. So I decided to pay an extended visit to... my _dad_.  
So there I sat. In a plane with my iPod blaring in my ears and my eyes welling up with tears. _I can make it, _I thought stubbornly. I realized for a brief humorous second that I could make a mule jealous. And he would cave first. I started laughing as I pictured the scene and then stopped abruptly when I remembered the reason behind me attempting to make a mule jealous. Iím pretty sure the poor old lady next to me thought I was an insane asylum escapee, as she started edging away from me. _Great. Old ladies are scared of me.  
_All of a sudden, I heard an announcement to please put on our seatbelts. I must have dozed off... because two hours donít really fit in the total time when you blink.  
We landed and I walked off. To the luggage retrieval.  
I swear, there were a dozen suitcases that looked exactly like mine! _They must havethe same impeccable fashion taste,_ I joked pessimistically. I knew I was just distracting myself from thoughts and worries about my mother, but it seemed to be working, so I kept at it. Then I saw the blue design I had superglued onto my luggage and ran over to the place where it would be in about five seconds. Perfect plan-- except for the fact that I tripped and landed face-first into my bags. _Smooth, Bella._ I heard a few titters from other waiting passengers and I proudly stood up, took my suitcases, and marched primly into the welcoming commitee room. Where would Charlie be? I had hoped that I woould be able to see him, but no such luck. I walked towards the exits a little.  
ìBELLA!î HOLY CRAP! I almost had a heart attack! Iím assuming that Charlie either missed me or he had a sudden whim to scare me to death. Possibly a mix of both.  
ìHey,î I waved as best as I could with three packages of ëBella stuffí in my hands. ìHow are you, Dad?î ìGood.î His momentary slip of enthusiasm was over. He silently took two of my bags from my hands and tried to take the other. ìStop, I can carry it!î ìOkay,î he shrugged. He threw them in the back of the cruiser and I copied him. _It appears as though Iím going to be walking to school. In the rain. Possibly even snow. Great. _In all honesty, I donít really care about my social standing, but I have lines. And riding to school in a police cruiser crosses about five of them.  
We rode home in comfortable silence. I hoped that I was actually going to make a few friends, unlike in Phoenix, where everyone either didnít know me or didnít pay attention to me. So I ended up feeling very lonely. Wow, I feel and probably sound so self-centered and somuch like Iím wallowing in self-pity. Not a good combination.  
I was pulled out of my reverie by Charlie clearing his throat. ìWeíre here,î he told me. I squinted out the window. ìIs one of your friends over?î I asked. There was an old, rusty, red pick-up truck in the driveway. _Poor thing has seen better days,_ I observed. ìNo, nobody is over. Thatís you.î He smiled a rare grin. I gasped. ìNo way. Thatís for me?î I exclaimed. ìYes... do you not like it?î Charlie appeared worried. ìLike it? I love it! How much should I pay? Iíve been saving up for a car, but...î ...I didnít think I had enough money yet.... ìItís a sort of homecoming gift, Bella. You donít pay for gifts. Besides, I got it cheap from a friend.î ìAhh... fine....î _Iíll probably need my money for gas anyway._

Everything of mine was in my room. So now I had a choice: I could sit and wallow, or I could fall asleep. Guess which one I chose...  
My eyelids drifted shut.


	2. Chapter 2

**Wow, I'm sorry about the last chapter! My stupid computer doesn't have word so I have to type this on AppleWorks. Fun stuff! Last chapter was mainly an intro, kay? So... I hope you enjoy! And I hope this chapter works out better!**

Brrrrrrrriiiiiiiinnnnngg!

I had to get that alarm clock out last night... Why? Why do I insist upon torturing myself? It's a Saturday, for crying out loud. Saturday. The time when you sleep all day.

Had I unpacked everything? I think I had, due to my sad lack of clothing, as my mother calls it. Maybe I'll go shopping today and make her happy. Groan.

I crawled out of bed shivering and ran to the bathroom. When I finished my shower, I dried my hair quickly, threw on jeans and a tee-shirt, and hurried downstairs to make myself some cereal. I pretty much inhaled the small flakes (and by inhaling I mean I swallowed them so quickly that I choked a couple of times). I couldn't wait to try out my new truck for the first time! Wait... keys... I glanced around until I saw an orange sticky note on the counter with two keys on top of it. I read the note:

_The one marked in red is the house key, the one in blue is the truck. There's also an extra house key on the underside of the heart-shaped leaf on the fake plant by the door. I thought you might like to be able to get in and out of the house and your truck today._

_-Dad_

I smiled to myself. That's sweet. **(Not nice. I read in my english book the other day that the word nice meant frivolous a long long time ago.)** Okay... so... I guess I need clothing. I headed towards the door, pulled on the enormous parka that I had placed on the coat rack the night before, and went outside. It wasn't actually raining, contrary to all my previous experiences with Forks. I looked up at the sky warily. Oh, that explains it. It was extremely cloudy.

I walked out to the amazing and glorious truck. And... accidently planted my face in the former flower garden. Ow. Must have missed seeing whatever it was I tripped on. I righted myself and looked around. Not only was there nothing on the ground by my feet, but the ground by my feet was totally flat. I felt heat rise to my face and was very glad (and hopeful that I was correct in thinking) that there was nobody around. If there were, I'm sure they would be worried for a second and then start cracking up at me. Possibly not even worried for a second.

I drove to Port Angeles. No easy feat, I'm telling you. If I didn't have all of three outfits, I wouldn't have been doing this.

When I arrived, I began searching with my eyes for *gulp* the _mall._

Oh, no. Not possible. The mall could not be the huge building in front of me. No way. But, sure enough, it was. Renée could have parties here! I was suddenly grateful that the passenger seat was empty of my mother. I parked in the enormous lot, grabbed my keys, and shuffled in on of the entrances through a restaurant. I wouldn't want any of my future classmates seeing me enter this place. Dante had the impression of hell wrong -- he had obviously never visited a mall. Lucky, lucky man. As I exited the restaurant sneakily, I wondered why any self-reespecting man would be caught dead here. Then, an interesting sight presented itself to me from the other side of the mall. A short girl with short black hair and a tall girl with long, wavy blonde hair were obviously ordering the tall blonde guy and tall, burly guy with dark curly hair behind them to come into a store with them. The guys hung their heads and followed grudgingly. Two thoughts came to my mind.

First: _That_ is the reason. Girls usually bring guys to the mall.

Second: _Whipped._

I looked at the directory that I had snatched from a bench... okay, from next to a sleeping guy with _awesome_ hair that looked... well, the closest comparison I had for it was bronze. But he wouldn't need it! _He_ was missing out on the _enthralling_ shopping experience. Sarcasm fully intended. He probably ran away from some terrorizing girl who dragged him here. Lucky, him. He had a choice.

I realized that I needed to go where the spectacle I had just seen went. I groaned, but wandered in. I eyed the more revealing outfits warily and sped to the back of the store, where they seemed to have my size in comfortable apparel. I apparently wasn't looking at where I was going or my feet. Miiiiiiiisss-take.

"OhmigoshIamsosorry!Ididn'tseeyouImustbetheclumsiestpersononthefaceoftheplanetandpossiblyeventhegalaxy--"

"Calm down," grinned the little pixie under me -- with black hair. One of the girls I had seen.

"Whoa, did I just hear _you_ tell someone to _calm down,_ Alice? Are you feeling alright?" shouted a booming voice from the other side of a mannequin.

"Ow!" it said a couple of seconds later. The girl under me snorted. Wait a second... under me! I was still on top of her!! Poor girl, she probably can't breathe!

"AaaaH! I'm sorry again!" I practically yelled, scrambling up. She bounced up.

"I'm Alice," she stated.

"Oh, yeah, I'm Bella." The huge one came out from behind the mannequin.

"I'm Emmett, hope you can stop Alice and Rose from their shopping rampage." Ahah! The booming voice making fun of Alice!

"Hey, Alice? Should I get this tank top in red or blue?" a female voice said.

"Ooh, Rose! Get over here and meet Bella! Red, by the way, but maybe the blue on Bella...." Alice looked at me, a speculating glint in her eye. I gulped nervously and tried to think of ways to escape from this shop peacefully. Huh... run would probably work best... I turned a made a beeline for the exit. Or tried to. Why can't I stop bowling people over? Oh, great, it's _two_ this time!

"I'm really sorry for knocking you over, but whoever you are, you just foiled my escape from Alice plan," I grumbled. I pulled myself up and stuck my hands out to help them up. They were the two blondes from the group. And they were cracking up. I pouted.

"These are Rosalie, or Rose, and Jasper," Alice introduced.

"Can people stop laughing at me?" I whined.

"It's not you, it's what you said," Jasper gasped.

"Why, what did she say?" Emmett asked curiously.

"She said, 'I'm really sorry for knocking you over, but whoever you are, you just foiled my escape from Alice plan'!" Rose got out. Emmett started cracking up with them. Alice just looked up at me. Her eyes seemed to grow to almost inhuman proportions and I found myself wanting to to berate myself for putting that expression on her face.

"Do... do you mean... that you wouldn't want to... to shop with me?" Her lips trembled heart-rendingly.

"No, no, of course I din't mean that! I would love to shop with you! I'm sorry for saying that, I'm really sorry...," I trailed off. Alice perked up almost immediately.

"It's okay, but in return, you have to let me buy you a wardrobe."

"Wait, what? You don't even know me!" I protested. She seemed to not pay attention.

"Uh-huh, uh-huh... What you're wearing, do you like that?"

I nodded and added, "This is one of my favorite outfits, but it's not like I have any choice. I have approximately three outfits. I just moved to Forks." She grinned a slow but huge grin.

"My point exactly." I felt like kicking myself, but knew that if I did, I would injure myself. After all, that is what usually happens when one kicks himself. Not that I would _know_ or anything.

"Wait, but why would that prove any points?" I questioned, confused.

"No offense, sweetie, but that is not the most... attractive... of outfits." I could tell that she was trying to be diplomatic.

"Uh-huh, say that without 'sugary talk'."

"Your outfit looks horrible."  
"Yeah, that's what I thought you were trying to say." I didn't see what was wrong with a black tee-shirt and jeans. They were extremely comfortable.

"Is that an 'Okay, Alice, I see exactly what you mean' or an 'Oh, fine, I'll give in unwillingly' or an 'Alice, I will never let you buy clothing for me. I will persist in being completely obstinate'?"

"Option three is very tempting, but I will have to choose option two," I replied cheekily.

"Knew it." She grinned full-on.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

"Alice, I can't carry any more bags," I groaned. Why me.....

"If only Edward were here... I wonder where he escaped to...," Rose sighed.

Alice's head whipped towards me.

"By any chance, did you see a guy with... bronze-ish hair before you ran us over?"

"Oh, you mean the guy I stole the directory from!" I remembered. And immediately blushed.

The group stared at me in shock and then started laughing.

"Well, sheesh, guys, I didn't think you enjoyed my comedian skills that much," I huffed. They only laughed harder.

"You stole a directory from Edward? What did he say?" Alice giggled.

I shrugged. "Nothing, he was asleep."

Alice grinned like a maniacal assasin on a mission. "Where was he? Chances are he's still there."

I led the way to the bench by the restaurant.

Emmett shushed us and positioned himself by Edward's ear. He took a large breath and emitted a loud,

"Edward! Wake up!"

He started awake and looked around. "Oh, crap, I thought I had escaped from Alice."

"Yeah, well, if I don't get to escape, then you don't either," I piped up.

"Who are you?" he queried,

"I'm Bella, a fellow captive of Alice. Nice to meet you, Edward."

**Okay people! If you read this, please review! Pleasepleasepleasepleaseplease! It would be nice to know that there is someone out there reading this! Besides me, of course!**

**-Singer**


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